My most memorable scout trip was to an island I knew that we canoed out to with the troop. As I had been there before I thought I'd pull a fast one and tell everyone stories about the bears all over the island and to make sure food was hung, etc. etc. Troop hung all their food. Leaders (who were camped about 100 meters away from the rest of us) did not, and got their camp visited by *four* skunks the first night, who proceeded to clean their dishes for them, eat their pot scribber, and darn near every bit of food they had brought, they got to watch it all from their tent, being unable to "scare off" the brash critters. One of them was then obliged to canoe back across the lake and go buy themselves more food since they had nothing to eat. skunks had cleaned them out.

Of course the other reason it was probably memorable was that since the trip was done in the canoe, I didn't have to *carry* the obnoxiously heavy boy-scout kit on my back much.

This was a great post and had me rolling. It reminds of an author I used to read as a kid, Patrick F. McManus. That guy was a nut and he had a book called "A Fine and Pleasant Misery" that was full of these types of stories.

I have all of Pat McManus's books. Jim Shaw reminds me of more than a few McManus stories

There are some times that I think he channels Retch Sweeney.

This whole thread I've really enjoyed as it brings back so many memories of being a kid in Idaho and of listening to my uncles tell tall tales around the campfire.

I had one very good outdoor leader who used to have us boys gather around the campfire and he would tell the McManus stories nearly verbatim from memory and with great inflection in his voice. I always felt as if I was there, riding my raft through the "narrows" and paddling with the dog.

I've just started reading these stories to my kids and my oldest (10 years old) really gets his brand of humor.

Very good times....

-Skippy